Articles

An unusual silence swept the Bramer house one morning when a loved one died, leaving everyone asking why? What was this silent killer? How could snoring affect one’s heart? This was the wake-up call Keeley Bramer needed to seek help.

“…Six years ago this Memorial Day weekend my father passed away. [He was] 75 years old, really, actually, in good health. But he had recently been diagnosed with sleep apnea,” Keeley said.

Stricter rules and regulations are being enforced at Community Medical Centers’ construction sites thanks to the help of the Owner Controlled Insurance Program (OCIP) and Peggy McGinnis, a construction occupation health nurse.

With OCIP, the owner, in this case Community, provides the general liability, excess liability, builder’s risk and pollution and workers’ compensation insurance for all of the contractors and sub contractors who work on projects for the hospital while using only one insurance company to handle all claims.

It was a love story straight out of a classic movie from the ‘40s; a romance that blossomed at a time when the world was at war and men in uniform left their sweethearts pining back home. This love story is about two people who would become inseparable during a 60-year marriage and a hospital staff that saw to it they were together until the end.

Helen Green first laid eyes on Mike Kirkorian when she and her mother were enjoying a slice of pie in a café in San Francisco. The women noticed two young sailors trying to pay their bill with Tonganese money.

Derek Bogardus’ life took a sharp turn late one November evening in 2007 as he drove his motorcycle home from a softball game. He collided with a truck and was pinned underneath it. The accident totaled his motorcycle, the truck and Bogardus almost lost his life.

“They say a truck made a left-hand turn in front of me and I don’t remember anything after that,” Bogardus said.

The California Endowment awarded Community Regional Medical Center a generous grant to measure and evaluate the hospital staff’s cultural competency – and eventually to better educate caregivers about patients’ perceptions and cultural practices.

The grant was sought last year as a way to help enhance patient care. Ohio-based consulting firm CMCHO, or the Center for Multicultural Competence in Healthcare Organizations, was hired to help query Community’s patients, employees and physicians.